My dad was shot by an American tank on April 7 2003 as he was being driven to his house. He died instantly, and my cousin who was driving was injured. My cousin dragged herself out to get help but the car was shot at again by a 20mm tank gun and set ablaze with my dad still inside.

My father was a colonel in the Iraqi army. He retired in 1975 after realising that his chances of promotion were slim as he was not a member of the Ba'ath party and had no intention of joining for obvious reasons.

He had two children: myself (41) and my younger brother who is 40. I have been living in Edinburgh since 1980 and my brother has lived in Amman, Jordan, for the past eight years.

My father was more than happy to see us out of the country as he knew well that the regime would never give us the chance to live a human life.

He was always happy to hear our voices over the phone (if I managed to get through) and always said: "Son, I am OK. You make sure you and your family are too."

My father had lived in al-Yarmouk district in Baghdad since 1958. He and mum worked hard to make sure we were brought up well.

My mother died four years ago. She was ill and the lack of medicine contributed to her death. My dad was devastated and even at that time he did not advise us to go back to Iraq since the brutal regime was in control.

The last time I saw my dad was 11 years ago when we arranged to meet in Jordan so that he and my mum could see their first granddaughter. They were delighted and hoped that one day they would be welcoming us back to our house.

I was born in Baghdad and when I saw my dad last he was a changed man. The good old military colonel, strict and set in his own ways, had turned into a softer gentleman. He was very unhappy in Iraq but at his age found it hard to leave after almost 60 years of living under the same roof.

I feel sad that neither my mum nor my dad had the chance to see their second grandchild (a boy now aged seven). My kids feel sad as well because I had promised them that one day in the near future they would visit granddad.

I was looking forward to seeing him too, and so was my wife. I was hoping to go and visit my mother's grave with him to ease all the painful times he had been through. Now I will be visiting two graves, although only God knows when the visit will take place. Hopefully sooner than we all think.